b'Drone technology, adopted out of necessity during the pandemic, is now a core tool for real-time field monitoring in counter-season seed production.The golden hour over a thriving seed corn field in Chilewhere pandemic-driven remote management has given rise to long-term production gains.ALL PHOTOS PROVIDED BY ANPROSCHILEAN SEED ASSOCIATIONBack to the BeginningLets go back for a moment to the initial response in 2020. The borders of Chile and other countries closed temporarily to air travel. Movement within the country was also restricted. However, Chilean authorities quickly established clear protocols that supported the ongoing operations of seed companies, enabling them to adapt their working methods, explains lia de Domnech, BASF global head of communications for vegetable seeds. Among other actions, the government declared agriculture to be of strategic How a Global Crisisimportance, enabling those in seed production and other ag-related activities to move around with proper paperwork. Companies such as Curimapu Export Changed Seedcreated online platforms for customers to check on each field, with access to imagery at the ground level and from above using drones and satellites. They Production Forever also created detailed weekly reports for each field and much more. From the U.S., we were able to do field inspections, grow-out readings, a breeder could talk to another in the field, What began as a crisis response is reshapinglooking at phenotypes together, explains Jim Schweigert, president of Wisconsin-counter-season production.By Treena Hein, Seed World Contributor based Gro Alliance, who operates a joint venture in Chile with CIS Semillas called CIS Alliance, located just south ITS BEEN FIVE years since U.S. seed com- Chilean Seed Association (ANPROS)of Santiago. And things have continued panies and their partners to the southand others harnessed the availableto improve. The quality of the imagery, were forced, due to the pandemic, to gettechnologies to ensure business activi- along with internet connectivity and cov-creative in managing counter-season pro- ties rolled out as closely as possible toerage reliability, is so excellent, that with duction in Chile and other countries.normal. And while their swift andthe real-time assistance of a field techni-Looking back, 2020 presented bigeffective changes addressed immediatecian, its no different than being there. barriers relating to the movement ofchallenges (in March 2020, there were noThis means Schweigert and others people and seed to complete the yearlyissues shipping seed out of Chile), thosetravel less to Chile. Before the pandemic, schedules. As was the case in otherchanges are now permanent, and theyvehe went in December to check fields and locales, in Chile, the government, globalexpanded because of their profoundlook at needs for the rest of the season. industry partners, members of thebenefits. He would again get on a plane in January 12 SEEDWORLD.COM/CANADA NOVEMBER 2025'